What does attribution mean in affiliate marketing and how does it work?

If you promote brands as an affiliate, attribution determines one thing: whether you get paid. Attribution is the system that decides which partner gets commission when a sale happens. If multiple affiliates or marketing channels influence the same customer, attribution rules decide who receives credit.

In this guide, we'll cover the below topics:

Common terms and phrases for affiliates

Here are the key terms you need to understand as an affiliate:

  • Click tracking: when someone clicks your affiliate link
  • Conversion: when that person completes a purchase
  • First-party cookie: a small data file stored in a user’s browser to track referral source
  • Attribution model: the rule that decides who earns commission
  • Attribution window: how long your click remains eligible for commission
  • Split level attribution: commission split between multiple affiliates

If you know these terms, you can read any affiliate programme’s tracking policy with confidence.

 

What is attribution? Last click vs split-level models

Attribution is how a brand or network decides which affiliate earns commission. We’ll explain last click attribution and split level attribution below:

Last click attribution

Last click attribution is the most common and is found across networks like Awin, Avantlink, IMPACT, Rakuten, Partnerise and the majority of networks – but last click attribution is now seen as outdated and isn’t representative of how consumers purchases online.

An example of last click attribution:

  1. A customer clicks your link
  2. Later, they click another affiliate’s link
  3. They make a purchase
  4. The most recent click gets 100 percent of the commission

If you were the last click, you earn the full commission. If you were not, you earn nothing. 

Last click attribution rewards affiliates who drive the final action. Over 70% of the time, this is a voucher code site, price comparison widget or browser extension. 

Split level attribution

Split level attribution is seen as the fairest and most up to date attribution model. It rewards affiliates for the part they play in the conversion journey.

An example of split level attribution:

  1. First affiliate introduces the product
  2. Second affiliate closes the sale
  3. Commission is shared between both
This benefits content creators, review sites, and influencers who drive discovery earlier in the journey. As an affiliate, always check which model a programme uses. It directly impacts your earning potential. Avelon ONLY uses split level attribution.

What is an attribution window?

The attribution window is how long your click stays active. 

For example, if a program has a 30-day attribution window:

  1. Someone clicks your link today
  2. They purchase 18-days later
  3. You still earn a commission

If they purchase after day 30 and did not click again, you do not earn a commission.

Short windows favour impulse purchases, whilst longer windows favour content-driven affiliates. This is where Avelon targets itself: in the long term window where content creators, publishers and influencers drive brand awareness and overall product education.

What are first party cookies and how do they work?

Cookies are just a marketing term for a tracking script that gets dropped on the users browser. Cookies are how your referral is tracked. 

When someone clicks your link:

  1. They land on the brand’s website
  2. A tracking cookie is placed in their browser
  3. If they purchase within the attribution window, the system checks that cookie
  4. You receive commission if your cookie is valid

First party cookies are stored directly by the brand’s website. They are more reliable than older third-party tracking methods because modern browsers block many third-party cookies.

For you, as an affiliate, this means more consistent tracking and fewer lost commissions due to tracking discrepancies. 

Can discount codes be used to track sales?

Discount codes are the easiest way to attribute sales, but there can be errors in the referral source of a sale if only a discount code is used – which can lead to merchants (brands and retailers) rejecting sales.

However, discount codes do provide you with some security. If a user:

  1. Sees your content
  2. Does not click your link
  3. Uses your unique code at checkout

You will still receive a commission. 

There are 2 x forms of discount codes in Avelon: evergreen codes such as ANDREW10 or LUCY20 or One-time use (OTU) codes which use Smart Referral Pages to inject a one-time use code into the users browser.

Evergreen codes are simple. Post the code on your Instagram or TikTok. Done.

One-time use codes require you to post a link in your content, i.e on your Instagram story, link in bio etc. When a user clicks the link, we automatically assign a promo code to the users browser. This code is then specific to that user and if they use that code, you are attributed the sale.

Common mistakes in tracking for affiliates

The most common mistakes we see in tracking affiliate sales:

  1. The affiliate posts a standard url instead of an affiliate link. Always make sure you post your affiliate link, not just a link to the merchants website.
  2. The merchant has not assigned the promo code to the affiliate. Always make sure the promo code you are given by the merchant is assigned to your profile. You can go to Dashboard > Promo codes to view a full list of promo codes you have been assigned.
If you are missing sales you know have been made, you can simply reach out to your merchant for investigation. Avelon has the ability to retroactively assign sales to affiliates up to 3-months after the sale should have been attributed.

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